I Feel Slovenia: When Worlds Collide

I have to start with a confession.

The Los Angeles Lakers came to my town, and I wasn’t there. I was in Croatia and returned to Slovenia on the same day that the luxury private jet carrying most of the roster of the $12.5 billion franchise departed for Los Angeles. I had planned to return earlier, but after talking to some people around the team and seeing how action-packed the five-day bonding trip would be, I realized there probably wouldn’t be much time for meaningful basketball conversations. And those who know me know that standing on the front lines with my phone out, chasing viral moments and clicks, just isn’t my thing.

So, like everyone else, I watched what felt like a five-day reality show from afar. But with the Slovenian media covering the trip around the clock, reports dominating every major news outlet and social media feed, and even a livestream of the first few hours, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the Lakers were right at my doorstep, walking the streets and exploring places I know so well.

I don’t know how much of the full “I Feel Slovenia” experience, to borrow my country’s official tourism slogan, the players truly absorbed, but it wasn’t for lack of effort. Luka’s team made sure that, in just five days, they checked nearly every box from the tourist brochures: daily culinary delights, a visit to Ljubljana Castle, exploring the city by bike, a party on a Ljubljana rooftop, rowing on Lake Bled, and experiencing just how green Slovenia is on an actual golf green.

But beneath the packed itinerary and postcard moments was something far more meaningful: for five days, the Lakers got to step inside Luka’s world. The place he comes from. The court where he grew up and made his first basket. The country that cherishes him as a hero, almost as a god. The home he returns to every summer.

And for five days, Slovenia got a glimpse of Luka’s other world: the glamour of the Lakers and the full Hollywood spectacle, with cameras everywhere, roads blocked for convoys of black vans, and media rushing to capture every possible angle.

For five days, Luka’s two worlds collided.

This trip reminded me of my annual boys’ weekend with my high school friends. Every year, the six of us get away for a few days, forget about the pressures of everyday life, do some classic boys-will-be-boys stuff, and retell the same stories about the fun times and stupid things we did in high school. Those shared experiences bonded us for life.

The obvious difference is that the Lakers’ group was much bigger, had cameras following its every move, and is still mostly new. The moments and stories that might eventually bond these players for life haven’t happened yet.

But despite the media frenzy surrounding it, this trip felt like an almost perfect place to start. Hopefully, it gave them some memories they will laugh about and stories they will retell for years.

There was the entire group going crazy after a young fan, who became a media star afterward, jumped into the Ljubljanica River when Jarred Vanderbilt came up short on a long-distance T-shirt toss. Bronny James front-flipped into Lake Bled. The team got the full Olympic-style eight-man rowing experience, while Luka kept trying, and failing, to make a basket from the boat. A smaller group held another race, this time on bikes through the streets of Ljubljana. Ziaire Williams went crazy after sinking a putt on the golf course. Vanderbilt did more Vando things, nearly flipping a golf cart before serving scoops to his teammates at an ice cream shop. And, of course, Luka and Austin added several new chapters to their never-ending back-and-forth.

Los Angeles Lakers@Lakers

Lake adventure with the squad 🛶

1:43 AM · Aug 25, 2026 · 112K Views

15 Replies · 145 Reposts · 2.26K Likes

This team, and its fans, needed some positive vibes and a genuine feel-good story. After another ownership change and yet another chapter of Buss family Succession-style drama, five carefree days of basketball, laughter, and bonding in Slovenia felt like a welcome reset. For a team with so many new faces, starting this journey in a more informal, less structured setting could provide a strong foundation for building relationships and chemistry that could eventually carry over to the basketball court.

Basketball was obviously not the priority here, but we still got a few glimpses of it through highlights from the team’s practice session at Stožice Arena. It is the same arena where Dončić has given Slovenians a rare opportunity to see their hero in person, wearing a national team jersey, over the past few summers. The highlights video, I think not coincidentally, started with a Luka-to-Walker Kessler lob.

Iztok Franko@iztok_franko

First clip Luka - Walker Kessler lob. Last clip Luka - Ziaire lob. New season cant come soon enough 👀

Los Angeles Lakers @Lakers

Roll the tape — fellas are hoopin’ in Slovenia 🎥

7:26 PM · Aug 23, 2026 · 29.4K Views

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I imagine that being treated like celebrities for five days must have been surreal for end-of-roster players such as Chris Mañon and Arthur Kaluma, a young player like Adou Thiero, or even Walker Kessler, who has spent his entire career to this point in Utah far from this kind of spotlight. Being part of this rock-band-style road trip is the kind of cool experience that can become a lifelong memory.

For his new teammates, the trip also offered a glimpse into the full Luka experience. For them, the rock-star treatment was a five-day novelty. For Luka, it has been part of his life since he was barely 18, when he quickly became the star of Real Madrid, Europe’s most historic basketball club. It has followed him at every step, from Madrid to Dallas to Los Angeles, and whenever he plays for the Slovenian national team as one of basketball’s most internationally marketable stars and the face of FIBA’s biggest competitions.

Those who follow my writing closely know that I’m a huge believer in empathy. It’s one of the reasons I have so much respect for coaches like Gregg Popovich, Steve Kerr, and JJ Redick. They balance an often ruthless level of competitiveness with a human touch and a genuine desire to understand and relate to the people around them.

That is why I believe one of the biggest gains from this trip, beyond all the media frenzy and team bonding, might be the opportunity for Luka’s new teammates to better understand his world. There is something powerful about seeing where a person comes from, walking the streets he knows, visiting the court where he first played basketball, and experiencing how his home country sees him. But it is also important to see the other side of it: the constant obligations, the feeling that everyone wants a piece of you at all times, and carrying on your shoulders the immense expectations that come with being the hero of a franchise, or even an entire country.

Playing with a superstar like Luka isn’t always easy. His talent, playing style, personality, and stature shape everything around him. To make that relationship work, players need empathy and a broader understanding of the full context, good and bad, that comes with being Luka Dončić.

Jalen Brunson was great at that. Kyrie Irving, in his typically thoughtful and highly elaborate way, has explained how the preseason trip to Abu Dhabi, and especially the stop in Madrid, where he got to know Luka’s other home, was key to building their relationship and trust. It also helped create the chemistry for a team that would later make an unexpected run to the 2024 NBA Finals. Austin Reaves seems to have that same big-picture perspective and the empathy needed not merely to coexist with Dončić, but to thrive as his key backcourt partner. That broader understanding is what allows their connection and dynamic not only to work, but to flourish.

This trip was also another step toward establishing Dončić as the undisputed leader and face of the Lakers franchise. A superstar who remains close to the fans and the different communities with which he has built ties throughout his career. Lara Beth Seager, Dončić’s brand manager and business strategist, has put on a masterclass in proactively rebuilding his public image after the shocking trade changed his life. And Dončić was smart enough to accept the fact that he needed a more focused and active strategy, especially after the smear campaign the Mavericks used to justify shipping him off to Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Lakers@Lakers

The most wholesome Lakers welcome has made its way from Los Angeles to Slovenia. Babies born this week are going home repping the Lakers with special care packages thanks to @UCLAHealth 💜💛

6:24 PM · Aug 24, 2026 · 202K Views

9 Replies · 171 Reposts · 2.29K Likes

With LeBron James’ departure, this is now truly a Luka-led team, one that will follow his lead and increasingly be shaped in his image. We saw elements of that joyful, playful, but also fiercely competitive nature at almost every stop of this trip.

Last offseason, with his commitment to a new diet and training regimen, Dončić showed the kind of maturity and resolve that most successful superstars eventually display after experiencing a major setback or even failure.

Hoop Central@TheHoopCentral

Luka Doncic with the new look Been locked in all offseason. 👀🔥 (via @Lakers)

7:47 PM · Aug 23, 2026 · 930K Views

181 Replies · 575 Reposts · 17.1K Likes

By maintaining that commitment and taking it a step further, Dončić is showing that he recognizes the huge shift the franchise made this summer and the expectations that will come with it. And make no mistake, the expectations will be huge, even if the Lakers are not widely considered serious title contenders. They always are for the Lakers, one of basketball’s most iconic brands, and for a player of Dončić’s talent and global stardom.

For Dončić and his team to meet those expectations, they’ll have to become what I’ve been calling for all summer: a close-knit, deeply connected group with a clear hierarchy and clearly defined roles. A team with a collective “we’ll prove you wrong” mentality. A team that becomes much more than the sum of its parts.

If that happens and we look back on the Lakers’ season as a feel-good story in April, or perhaps even May or June, those five days in Slovenia in August could be where it all started.